Major shareholders in Chinese online game developer Shanda Interactive Entertainment have voted in favor of a proposal that lets the current CEO of the company and his family members take over the company. CEO Tianqiao Chen offered $41.35 per share, putting its value at about $2.3 billion. The deal would also remove the company from the NASDAQ stock exchange where it went public back in 2004. The company would become privately owned once again. Shanda’s buy-out is also being funded by Tianqiao Chen, Chen's wife Qianqian Luo, and his brother Danian Chen.

Shanda operates various games in China. It is second only to Tencent in the region. The company plans to launch its own mobile phone later this year. China’s online games market is projected to be worth around 55.7 billion yuan ($8.8 billion) in 2012 and will reach 82.6 billion yuan ($13.1 billion) in 2015, according to a forecast from Analysys International.